Range-finding and object-positioning systems and methods using same
First Claim
1. An apparatus comprising:
- at least one communication component configured for transmitting or receiving at least one set of signals to or from at least one location, each of the at least one set of signals comprising at least a Radio Frequency (RF) signal and an acoustic signal, said acoustic signal comprising a first codeword; and
at least one processing unit coupled to the at least one communication component and configured for, for each of the at least one location,determining a first time that the RF signal transmitted between the apparatus and the location is received;
determining a second time of starting to receive the acoustic signal transmitted between the apparatus and the location;
obtaining a received and processed signal of the acoustic signal transmitted between the apparatus and the location, the received and processed signal comprising the first codeword;
determining a time offset based on the received and processed acoustic signal;
determining a time difference as the summation of the second time and the time offset minus the first time; and
determining the distance between the apparatus and the location based on the time difference.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A range-finding and/or object-positioning system comprises one or more target devices; one or more reference devices communicating with said one or more target devices via one or more wireless signal sets, each wireless signal set comprising at least a first-speed signal having a first transmission speed and a second-speed signal having a second transmission speed, and the first transmission speed being higher than the second transmission speed; and at least one processing unit performing actions for determining at least one distance between one target device and one reference device based on the time difference between the receiving time of the first-speed signal and the receiving time of the second-speed signal of the wireless signal set communicated between said reference and target devices.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An apparatus comprising:
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at least one communication component configured for transmitting or receiving at least one set of signals to or from at least one location, each of the at least one set of signals comprising at least a Radio Frequency (RF) signal and an acoustic signal, said acoustic signal comprising a first codeword; and at least one processing unit coupled to the at least one communication component and configured for, for each of the at least one location, determining a first time that the RF signal transmitted between the apparatus and the location is received; determining a second time of starting to receive the acoustic signal transmitted between the apparatus and the location; obtaining a received and processed signal of the acoustic signal transmitted between the apparatus and the location, the received and processed signal comprising the first codeword; determining a time offset based on the received and processed acoustic signal; determining a time difference as the summation of the second time and the time offset minus the first time; and determining the distance between the apparatus and the location based on the time difference. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A positioning system comprising:
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a plurality of reference devices at unknown positions; one or more target devices at unknown positions, said one or more target devices in communication with the plurality of reference devices via one or more wireless signal sets, each wireless signal set comprising at least a first-speed signal having a first transmission speed and a second-speed signal having a second transmission speed, and the first transmission speed being higher than the second transmission speed; and at least one processing unit configured for; defining a coordinate system for the plurality of reference devices and the one or more target devices, the origin of said coordinate system coinciding with one of the plurality of reference devices; calculating the position of the reference devices in said coordinate system based on the distances between the plurality of reference devices; and
for each target device,determining the distance between the target device and each of the plurality of reference devices based on the time difference between the receiving time of the first-speed signal and the receiving time of the second-speed signal of the wireless signal set communicated between said reference and target devices; and determining the position of said target device in said coordinate system based on the determined distances. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for determining the distance between a first device and a second device, the method comprising:
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transmitting a RF signal and an acoustic signal from the first device, said acoustic signal comprising a first codeword; receiving the RF signal by the second device at a first time; starting to receive the acoustic signal by the second device at a second time; receiving the acoustic signal by the second device; processing the received acoustic signal to obtain a received and processed acoustic signal comprising the first codeword; determining a time offset based on the received and processed acoustic signal; determining a time difference as the summation of the second time and the time offset minus the first time; and determining the distance between the first and the second devices based on the time difference. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification